Tech Entrepreneur Elon Musk After backing up, a commotion broke out. of Germany A far-right party at a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the western European country, leading to the paper's opinion editor resigning in protest.
Germany is due to vote in a snap election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Schulz's three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revive the country's stagnant economy.
Musk's guest opinion piece The World on Sunday – A sister publication of Politico Axel is owned by the Springer Group – which was published in German over the weekend, the second time this month that it has supported it. Substitute for Germanyor AFD.
“Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last glimmer of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated comments.
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He said that the far-right party can lead the country to a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes but reality.
The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the state of the country.
The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no real chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party.
The tech billionaire, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, challenged the party's public image in his comments.
“It is patently false to portray the AfD as right-wing extremists, considering that party leader Alice Wedel has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Think? Please!”
Musk's comments have sparked a debate in the German media over the limits of free speech, with the newspaper's own editor announcing his resignation, pointing to Musk's social media platform X.
“I always enjoyed leading the opinion piece Welt And WAMS. An article by Elon Musk was published today. The World on Sunday. Eva Marie Kugel wrote that I handed in my resignation yesterday after it was printed.
A critical essay by the future editor-in-chief of Welt Group, John Philip Bergard, accompanied Musk's opinion piece.
“Musk's diagnosis is correct, but his treatment, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” Burgard wrote.
In response to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, DPACurrent Editor-in-Chief of Welt The group, Alf Poschard, and Burghardt — who takes over on Jan. 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion on Musk's piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.”
“It will continue to set the compass of the 'world' in the future. We will grow. The world Even more decisively as a forum for such discussions,” he wrote DPA.
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